The “Gendered Geographies” of Philadelphia’s High Schools: Germantown High School, 1907-1914

• In Event: A Theoretical Toolbox: Using Theories of Gender and Sexuality to Uncover New Histories of Education

Abstract

This paper examines the history of Germantown High School, a comprehensive public high school located in the northwest corner of Philadelphia, from 1907-1914. This period marks Germantown’s campaign to establish a public high school in their community and raises questions about the aims and culture of co-education in American high schools at the turn of the century. The paper draws upon a range of historical sources—newspapers, businessmen’s association meeting notes, Board of Education annual reports—to analyze the school’s history in the context of its community, city, and nation.

This paper speaks to three related, but not always intersecting scholarly literatures: the history of education, the history of cities, and the history of gender and sexuality. Research on the history of American high schools generally falls into one of two distinct categories: studies of large-scale change or localized case studies (Angus & Mirel, 1999; Johanek & Puckett, 2007; Labaree, 1988; Reese, 1995) Urban historians are particularly interested in analyzing how historical processes contribute to economic and social inequalities that exist in cities and metropolitan areas today. However, these historians generally have not used schools as a primary lens to understand the changes that occurred in urban spaces during the twentieth century (Levenstein, 2009; Self, 2003; Sugrue, 2008; Wolfinger, 2007). Historians of gender and sexuality have examined the history of women’s education, history of American empire, and the history of the body (Brown, 2009; Graves, 1998; Ko, 1994; Stoler, 2006). Yet, they often fail to link these histories to high schools. This paper links the three fields by using the analytical tools that this scholarship provides and by situating the history of this high school beyond its institutional context.

More specifically, this paper examines the campaign to establish a neighborhood high school in Germantown. The battle was not an easy one. City officials in Philadelphia argued that the limited funding available should be allocated to building elementary schools rather than building high schools. Germantown argued that the location of the city’s high schools in the center of the city was too dangerous for their native-born, white daughters. At the turn of the century, Philadelphia’s “gendered geography” split the city into two spheres: Germantown’s private suburban periphery, where native-born white women could travel safely, and Philadelphia’s public urban core, where, according to received wisdom, they could not (Wood, 2005). The men and women who led the campaign contended that Germantown girls needed a high school in their community to preserve their fragile bodies and their upstanding morals. In 1914, the city granted Germantown its high school. Residents rejoiced. This new school offered their native-born, white daughters protection in the secluded suburbs and a distinct educational program that emphasized the differences between boys and girls. The high school was technically co-educational institutions, but it was not “gender neutral” (Goldin & Katz, 2010; Tyack & Hansot, 1992). Instead, the new high school reproduced and reinforced structural inequality from its founding.

Author

• Erika Kitzmiller, Drexel University